During the hearing on Wednesday, the Delhi government counsel submitted that Bhullar could not have filed the plea here since the crime, and the trial did not take place in a court under the jurisdiction of the Punjab and Haryana high court. Hence, the plea filed by him is not maintainable
The Delhi government on Wednesday questioned the maintainability of the plea filed by Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, a 1993 Delhi bomb blasts convict, seeking premature release.
Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar (File Photo)
During the hearing on Wednesday, the Delhi government counsel submitted that Bhullar could not have filed the plea here since the crime, and the trial did not take place in a court under the jurisdiction of the Punjab and Haryana high court. Hence, the plea filed by him is not maintainable.
The court of justice JS Bedi, while fixing the next date of hearing for November 23, asked Bhullar’s counsel to respond to the judgment cited by the Delhi government in this regard.
The apex court 2022 judgment cited says all further proceedings have to be considered, including remission or pre-mature release, as the case may be, in terms of the policy which is applicable in the state where the crime was committed and not the state where the trial stood transferred and concluded for exceptional reasons.
On August 16, the Delhi government told the court that the case of the premature release of Bhullar will be decided within four weeks.
It was further informed that the matter is pending before the Sentence Review Board (SRB).
However, during the hearing on October 18, the proceedings before the Punjab and Haryana high court were questioned by the Delhi government on the issue of maintainability.
The case has been pending since 2022 when Bhullar sought quashing of an order whereby his premature release application was declined.
As per the plea, he is undergoing life imprisonment, and he has already completed more than 27 years’ actual sentence.
As per Delhi government rules, he was required to undergo only 14 years of actual sentence and 20 years sentence, including remissions. His case for grant of premature release has been deferred repeatedly without application of “judicious mind”, the plea had stated.
Bhullar, who hails from Dayalpura Bhaike in Bathinda was booked under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) and other related laws in September 1993 in connection with the Delhi bomb blasts. In 2001, Bhullar was awarded a death sentence by a Delhi which was commuted to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court in 2014.